If we wish to be greatly used by God, we must develop a
servant’s heart and a servant’s mindset. The first step is to
clearly understand what pride and humility really are.

While in high
school, I learned about pride and humility the hard way.
Three months after receiving Christ, I attended a Christian
camp and heard a well-meaning preacher say, “The road to
humility is humiliation.” Thinking I was now armed with a
secret of spiritual growth, I pondered various
self-humiliation techniques. I came up with a

method whereby I could debase myself in front of large numbers
of people - all at the same time. It was great. I decided to pick up the trash in the school
hallways during the high-traffic times between classes.

My peers watched in amazement. Occasionally I would be so
embarrassed, I would skip a piece of trash. Then, feeling
guilty, I would backtrack all the way down some long corridor
just to pick up the piece I had missed.

I am happy to declare that God has a better way! The road to
humility is not humiliation. When we are humiliated or embarrassed, we think
about ourselves more, not less. That is not real humility.

Before seeking to humble ourselves,
it is a good idea to look first at God’s instructions. If we
belittle ourselves by dwelling on our shortcomings and failures, we
may seem humble, but our minds are endlessly revolving around
ourselves.

Belittling
ourselves is not humility, but a hidden form of pride, because
we are still the center of our own attention. We are humble
when we lift our focus off of ourselves altogether. Real
humility is not thinking less of ourselves; it is thinking of
ourselves less.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not imagine
that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people
call "humble" nowadays: he will not be the sort of greasy...person,
who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably
all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful...chap who
took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him,
it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to
enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he
will not be thinking about himself at all.”

Pride encompasses much more than just feeling superior or arrogant.
Pride is being wrapped up in ourselves. Some people are filled with
themselves, thinking how incredible they are. Others are filled with
themselves, thinking how pathetic they are. In both cases the mind
is riveted on self.

When God called Moses to bring His people out of captivity, Moses
responded, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?...I have never been eloquent….O Lord,
please send someone else to do it” (Exodus 3:11; 4:10, 13). Moses’
response may sound humble, but the next verse says, “Then the Lord’s
anger burned against Moses.” Why did God get angry? Let’s
take a closer look.

Moses was exalting himself in three ways:

1. Moses responded as if he were smarter than God: Lord, I
have never been eloquent. I don’t mean to be critical, but you’ve
chosen the wrong guy. Perhaps - with my helpful advice - you can
make a better choice.

2. Moses was trusting in himself and in his own abilities. He
raised objection after objection because he felt inadequate. God
wanted Moses to understand this important truth:

The
point is not who you are, but that I will be with you.

But Moses did not
receive God’s instruction. He continued to focus on his own
inadequacy. Because he put his faith in himself rather than in God,
fear dominated his heart.
3. God wanted to use Moses to deliver two million people out of
slavery, but Moses wasn’t thinking about two million people. Moses
was thinking about Moses. That is not humility; it is pride in
disguise. God wanted Moses to humble himself by focusing on those he
was sent to help.

When God calls us to do a task, let’s not make the same mistakes
Moses made. Instead, let’s trust that God’s plans are better than
anything we could ever come up with. Let’s trust that since God is
our strength, we are equipped to do whatever He’s called us to do.
And finally, let’s lift our focus to be a blessing to those around
us. God wants to use our lives to bless many others, but He cannot
do so if we are preoccupied with ourselves.

- Jamie Lash
LifeGivingWords.com

HUMILITY: THE WAY
TO HAPPINESS & TRUE GREATNESS

Wilhemina of the Netherlands became queen when she was only 10
years old. Until she became of age in 1898, her mother
governed as Queen Regent. In her first appearance as Queen of
the Netherlands, Wilhemina stood on the balcony of her palace
in Amsterdam and stared with a small child's wonder at her
cheering subjects. "Mamma," she asked, "do all these people
belong to me?"

"No, my child," replied the Queen Regent. "It is you who
belongs to all these people."

Royalty and those in high authority have an awareness of the
dignity of service in a special degree. But this is the truest
concept of successful living for everyone. Jesus emphasized
this when He said, "Whosoever will be great among you must be
your servant." (Matthew 20:27) He knew how it ennobles the
heart and satisfies the soul to serve others.

The unhappy person is usually the one who is self-centered,
whose whole world revolves around himself. Someone has said,
"The self, centered on itself, is off center for its center is
God."

- From a daily devotional

Note: The article above by Jamie
Lash is based on the book, This Was Your Life! available for ordering @
www.Amazon.com.

For additional help, we recommend the following 'Quick Read'
Articles:

If you want to dramatically impact your life in 15 minutes, you can read
the explosive first chapter of This Was Your Life! free of charge. It
contains the most life-changing story I've ever heard - a story my
co-author has shared in over 80 countries around the world.
www.lifegivingwords.com/TWYL_chapter1.htm

Tip #3: Stop subvocalization. Subvocalization means moving
part of your speaking apparatus (lips, tongue or vocal cords) as you
read. Subvocalization is a
slowing habit because it prevents people from reading any faster
than they can talk. It also makes reading unnecessarily tiring
because subvocalizing readers are moving things that shouldn’t be
moving.

Note: Subvocalization is not the same thing as mental hearing.
Subvocalization is bad; mental hearing is good. When you hear the
words in your mind, it helps your comprehension level. In fact, if
you ever feel like you are not getting sufficient comprehension, try
mentally hearing every word. I think you will find that your
comprehension improves significantly.

A word of warning to the “gliders” among us: Some people glide along
the text without ever stopping their eyes. Generally, people who
glide get wonderful speed but terrible comprehension. The way to get
strong comprehension is to stop your eyes on a group of words to
give your mind a moment to absorb the information and then to move
on to the next group. An eye fixation lasts about ¼ of a second.

Gliding is a hard habit to break because gliders love the wonderful
speeds they get. But if you need high comprehension, it is much
better to make eye fixations on groups of words. Once you
become experienced, you should be able to take in 4-5 words with
each eye fixation. Once you get used to this “chunking” skill, you
can go quite fast and still get high comprehension.

What about dyslexics? Parents sometimes ask me if I think this
“chunking” method would still work for their dyslexic son or
daughter. I must confess that the question is beyond my realm of
knowledge. Although I have taught the Advanced Reading Skills course
about 50 times, I have had very few students who had dyslexia and
informed me of that fact. I only remember four. As I recall, two
showed significant improvement and two did not. Typically, with my
other students, about 85% at least double their reading speed with
equal or greater comprehension.

If you happen to live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and would
like to take the Advanced Reading Skills course, you are welcome to
join us! I’ll be teaching it three times at Dallas Baptist
University in August. It is open to the public—to anyone high school
age or older. To view the (PDF) Reading Course flyer, click
here:
http://www.lifegivingwords.com/Reading-Course-flyer.pdf

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If you want to dramatically impact your life in 15 minutes, you can read
the explosive first chapter of This Was Your Life! free of charge. It
contains the most life-changing story I've ever heard -- a story my
co-author has shared in over 80 countries around the world.
www.lifegivingwords.com/TWYL_chapter1.htm